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[Harry1309]

There has been many mixed reviews online, and it is very hard to know what to believe, so should a patient be walking with a walker during lengthening, or do they wait until the lengthening is finished

[LIVELIFETHEWAYIWANT]

You SHOULD get around on your own to keep deconditioning at minimum , the more you stay bed ridden , the more rehab you need to do post consolidation.

my DR told me to move around with a walker as much as I can , but not putting any weight on my legs because precise 2 is not fully weight bearing for me ( 150lbs ) I was 185 lbs . so be very careful not to trip or fall to break the nail . I was in bed for 6 and half months . might be a little too cautious .

I do know a guy who is 120 lbs , 80% consolidated on both legs , Tibia ,still walking around with walker , not cleared for walking with no assist . 

Hope this helps .

[LIVELIFETHEWAYIWANT]

and during lengthening , do the two leg hop walking , lol . to be safe . But you get tired super fast anyway ...

[SpeedDialer]

I think the reason why it is confusing is because:

- precise (its non weight bearing) patients appear to at first just use walker for short distances for a while.

Example A: right now a precise tibia patient in Athens now is basically only using the walker for short distances in his room + transfers (between bed, wheelchair, toilet, bench, etc) and he's using wheelchair for everything else pmuch

- people with weight bearing nails on the other hand (betzbone, gnail) are often encouraged by their doctors to practice walking fairly early in the process (ex: plenty of the gnail patients here in Athens seem to be doing plenty of crutches walking even at around 2-3 weeks or a bit earlier depending on the patient. I feel like plenty of patients are walking with crutches earlier than that, maybe I just suck, I was a bit behind schedule).

Example B: So like after a few weeks, (i'm using gnail) the nurses and physical therapists were annoyed that I was using the wheelchair and walker too much and wanted me to walk more with crutches

So that's a big contrast between Example A and B and its because of non weight bearing vs weight bearing it seems

It might be good to lose weight if you're thinking of using tibia precise, because if you are light enough another patient told me that the largest tibia precise nail (not everyone can fit in the largest precise nail into their tibias) might be able to handle 68 kg of weight

[EndGame]

Patients with precise are told to use their arms to deweight themselves and avoid going over their weight bearing limit, which I think is 50 or 75 lbs per nail depending on if you get thicker nail. As mentioned, the two leg hop is basically needed for heavier patients. Often patients don't deweight enough with their arms and get into trouble walking with walker using precise, but patients are definitely encourage to use walker to walk at Paley. It helps to stimulate bone growth. To be safe, I mostly aqua walked in the pool too stimulate bone growth and avoided risk of not deweighting enough with my arms. I did still walked 15 minutes per day with walker but I was 185lbs and my arms would get tired so it was really more like 3 five minute intervals of walking with walker. I did walk 45 minutes in the pool daily too. Probably best to listen to whatever your LL doctor advises you assuming you didn't go with one of the butchers to save money.

[SpeedDialer]

Patients with precise are told to use their arms to deweight themselves and avoid going over their weight bearing limit, which I think is 50 or 75 lbs per nail depending on if you get thicker nail. As mentioned, the two leg hop is basically needed for heavier patients. Often patients don't deweight enough with their arms and get into trouble walking with walker using precise, but patients are definitely encourage to use walker to walk at Paley. It helps to stimulate bone growth. To be safe, I mostly aqua walked in the pool too stimulate bone growth and avoided risk of not deweighting enough with my arms. I did still walked 15 minutes per day with walker but I was 185lbs and my arms would get tired so it was really more like 3 five minute intervals of walking with walker. I did walk 45 minutes in the pool daily too. Probably best to listen to whatever your LL doctor advises you assuming you didn't go with one of the butchers to save money.

Yeah hm.. I'm almost that heavy, I mean I'm def less than 180 but I'm still pretty heavy for my height (but unfortunately in my specific case its mostly fat). I'm thinking of doing precise tibias in one year from now and I admit to being a bit worried about the weight limit or forgetting out of habit about the two feet hop. I still have some time to lose weight though..

I hate the two feet hop because its harder on my wrists, but losing weight should help with this as well, I have plenty of useless fat on my body that is just an inconvenience in multiple ways 

I'm doing gnail now and I haven't done the two foot hop in a while, I'm hoping I don't accidentally forget about the two feet hop one morning after precise tibia surgery someday

There is a pool (an extremely shallow pool, less than the height of the legs I think, not sure how useful it is) on the roof of the Novotel hotel in Athens but unfortunately it requires going up some stairs which I think I would be afraid to go up even with some help

Well best case scenario I can diet my way down to 150 pounds over one year aka 67ish kg and then my worries will decrease a bit

I do know the device weight limit is probably a conservative one and it can probably handle a bit more weight than it is rated for

Although it might turn out that I just end up not being able to fit the biggest precise tibia nail into my tibias and then, oh well

There is a precise tibia patient I know where there is a tiny bit of tension between him and the physical therapist who works on him. She wants him to do more walker walking, but he is worried about the nail weight limit issue. I'm sort of on his side, I mean can't I just pay to stay in Athens extra long and do more exercise on the antigravity treadmill where they can artificially decrease the weight on the legs? I dunno ..

[Medium Drink Of Water]

It is a very good idea except if you're using a device that can't bear your weight.

[LIVELIFETHEWAYIWANT]

It is a very good idea except if you're using a device that can't bear your weight.

very true . I started walking after cleared by my doctor , first few weeks was hard , progress sky rocketed once my body adopted to the "new" daily activity "walking" lol.

[EndGame]

Yeah hm.. I'm almost that heavy, I mean I'm def less than 180 but I'm still pretty heavy for my height (but unfortunately in my specific case its mostly fat). I'm thinking of doing precise tibias in one year from now and I admit to being a bit worried about the weight limit or forgetting out of habit about the two feet hop. I still have some time to lose weight though..

I hate the two feet hop because its harder on my wrists, but losing weight should help with this as well, I have plenty of useless fat on my body that is just an inconvenience in multiple ways 

I'm doing gnail now and I haven't done the two foot hop in a while, I'm hoping I don't accidentally forget about the two feet hop one morning after precise tibia surgery someday

There is a pool (an extremely shallow pool, less than the height of the legs I think, not sure how useful it is) on the roof of the Novotel hotel in Athens but unfortunately it requires going up some stairs which I think I would be afraid to go up even with some help

Well best case scenario I can diet my way down to 150 pounds over one year aka 67ish kg and then my worries will decrease a bit

I do know the device weight limit is probably a conservative one and it can probably handle a bit more weight than it is rated for

Although it might turn out that I just end up not being able to fit the biggest precise tibia nail into my tibias and then, oh well

There is a precise tibia patient I know where there is a tiny bit of tension between him and the physical therapist who works on him. She wants him to do more walker walking, but he is worried about the nail weight limit issue. I'm sort of on his side, I mean can't I just pay to stay in Athens extra long and do more exercise on the antigravity treadmill where they can artificially decrease the weight on the legs? I dunno ..

I had the same issue with the PT folks. I always was reminding them I can't just stand and rest, I always must be using my arms to deweight at 185 lbs. They are so used to folks 150 lbs or less...  I always had the wheelchair and an aid nearby so when my arms gave out I could quickly transfer to my wheelchair. I basically never used the walker except short distances. The PT folks don't appreciate how challenging it is to follow the protocols fully and properly. They just say stay within the limits and use the walker, but it truly is difficult. I am considering going back to do my Tibias and know it means basically living in a wheelchair. A pool that isn't deep enough to be mid chest water depth is useless. There were good pools for folks at Paley Institute so I did almost all my walking in pool instead of using the walker on land. I think that is the right way to go for precise patients. The PT and doctors will insist aqua walking good but not a substitute for walking with walker. I don't think they are right about that, but I always suggest listen to your doctor and I did 15 minutes daily with walker to appease them. It's definitely doable, been lots of precise patients heavier like us even though we are the exception. It can be done. I managed with femurs so I know both that I can do it again and that it will suck balls . You can definitely manage too, and it will definitely suck for you too lol. Good luck.